During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observe a laboratory activity or base your answer on past visits. How does your CT conduct a typical laboratory activity? How does he or she open the activity and organize student groups? How do students learn what they're expected to do during the period? Reflect on your reading about inquiry and your experience with the NECAP inquiry task. How did the laboratory activity you observe prepare students for the type of activities that might show up on the NECAP in the future? What inquiry elements would you strengthen? What science practices do you want to stress when you're teaching?
Observation:
"Down to Business" is the first thought that comes to mind when I think of my Ct's teaching style. As soon as the bell rings, the journal topics are posted on the smart board and he expects his students to get down to business. He takes attendence, he checks homeworks and dives right into the class discussion or lecture. There are very few side conversations with the students. I do not get the feeling that he has fostered or tries to foster relationships with his students. For the most part, he addresses their questions and concerns and treats the students with respect. If a side conversation does occur, he quickly redirects the students to be "on-task". I have not witnessed any personal conversations with the students. The climate is rather serious and is focused around content and getting things accomplished. At the same time, Mr. B is fair to the students. He gives his students the benefit of the doubt and listens to what students have to say whether a student comes up with an excuse as to why he didnt do the homework or a student's concern about how they feel their answer on a test should have been graded differently. When these conversationa are had, my ct is fair and knows when to cut a student some slack and when he needs to be stern. In his classroom, I think the students respect his role as the teacher and they do not expect nor try to foster any type of casual relationship. The classroom climate is all about "getting things done."
As far as labs, I have spent five whole days over the past few weeks with him. During these classes, their have been jigsaw activities, vidoes, quizes, lectures, demonstrations on osmosis and one lab which was the microscope/cell lab where students had to observe and draw different types of cells such as an cheek cell, yeast cell, plant cell as well as various slides such as lice, butterfly wings, frog's blood, etc. I was there on day 2 of the lab so i could not witness how the laboratory was introduced, however, I was able to watch how he use the journal entry to review what students observed in day 1 of the cell lab as well as how the students acted self-sufficiently by continuing where they left off on the previous day. During this time as I made sure to spend at least 15-20 minutes with each group, Mr. B would either get some things done on his own at the front of the classroom or walk around to make sure groups did not have any questions and if they did, he would refer them to the page in the book that students could find the answer to the questions on the lab hand out.
Reflection
Although I respect my CT's teaching style which is primarily content-driven, I will say that my approach will be rather different. I believe in fostering relationships with the students. Its about getting to know who these incredible people are, what are their likes/dislikes, how can I help them to grow inton responsible, contributing adults. If you want students to be successful in and outside of the classroom, they you need to learn about their individual needs and know how to truly motivate them. Relationship building is key and fortunately, that is what I do best! At the same time, I believe students must respect your role as the teacher and understand their role as a student. I will treat all students like adults and have the same level of expectations for all students.
I will make sure we always cover our business of the day but also make sure we work on one life skill each day during a lesson such as a communication skill, problem solving skill or organization skill. I think it is absolutely to take 2-3 minutes to discuss why we are practicing these skills and how it will help each member of the class in the future and how they can apply these skills in practical every day life. I want to teach science but I also want to teach life skills. My goal for all of my students will be focused on personal growth. I want students to recognize that although I am a teacher, I have had many life experiences outside of this field and the lessons or life skills I incorporate into the classroom are meaningful and are based on my own experiences. I want students to know that they can come to me for guidance, advice, help and direction. At the same time, establishing this type of climate in the classroom, will help motivate students to succeed. Based on my own experiences as a student, I was much more apt to try harder and go the extra mile around teachers/professors who I respect and have a more personal relationship with. I didnt want to let thlem down. I want to create this for my own students.
To change directions and talk about labs in the classroom and my ct.......I did ask what type of materials were available for labs and did he use lab manuals to create his labs or did he get his activities off of the internet, etc......he said that he focused on activites opposed to labs. The labs he did in the classroom were labs in which he could buy materials for on his own dime. From my point of view, a science classroom should consist of several hands on activities including lab experiments and simulations. After personally researcing scientific inquiry, I now understand that it is possible to put an inquiry spin on the same old traditional cook book lab experiment whether it is changing one component of the lab experiment (often referred to as guided inquiry) or by allowing students to control the lab by exploring some sort of phenomena, questioning, designing a mini experiment, collecting data and interpreting the data and finally presenting. I think that these types of labs are great opportunities to point out "what life skills" the students are using and what type of "Science skills" are necessary to complete each task. I will look forward to experimenting with different teaching styles and learning strategies including inquiry tasks as soon as I am able to
Observation/Reflection #3: A Matter of Style
Chose one of the prompts below:Observation:
"Down to Business" is the first thought that comes to mind when I think of my Ct's teaching style. As soon as the bell rings, the journal topics are posted on the smart board and he expects his students to get down to business. He takes attendence, he checks homeworks and dives right into the class discussion or lecture. There are very few side conversations with the students. I do not get the feeling that he has fostered or tries to foster relationships with his students. For the most part, he addresses their questions and concerns and treats the students with respect. If a side conversation does occur, he quickly redirects the students to be "on-task". I have not witnessed any personal conversations with the students. The climate is rather serious and is focused around content and getting things accomplished. At the same time, Mr. B is fair to the students. He gives his students the benefit of the doubt and listens to what students have to say whether a student comes up with an excuse as to why he didnt do the homework or a student's concern about how they feel their answer on a test should have been graded differently. When these conversationa are had, my ct is fair and knows when to cut a student some slack and when he needs to be stern. In his classroom, I think the students respect his role as the teacher and they do not expect nor try to foster any type of casual relationship. The classroom climate is all about "getting things done."
As far as labs, I have spent five whole days over the past few weeks with him. During these classes, their have been jigsaw activities, vidoes, quizes, lectures, demonstrations on osmosis and one lab which was the microscope/cell lab where students had to observe and draw different types of cells such as an cheek cell, yeast cell, plant cell as well as various slides such as lice, butterfly wings, frog's blood, etc. I was there on day 2 of the lab so i could not witness how the laboratory was introduced, however, I was able to watch how he use the journal entry to review what students observed in day 1 of the cell lab as well as how the students acted self-sufficiently by continuing where they left off on the previous day. During this time as I made sure to spend at least 15-20 minutes with each group, Mr. B would either get some things done on his own at the front of the classroom or walk around to make sure groups did not have any questions and if they did, he would refer them to the page in the book that students could find the answer to the questions on the lab hand out.
Reflection
Although I respect my CT's teaching style which is primarily content-driven, I will say that my approach will be rather different. I believe in fostering relationships with the students. Its about getting to know who these incredible people are, what are their likes/dislikes, how can I help them to grow inton responsible, contributing adults. If you want students to be successful in and outside of the classroom, they you need to learn about their individual needs and know how to truly motivate them. Relationship building is key and fortunately, that is what I do best! At the same time, I believe students must respect your role as the teacher and understand their role as a student. I will treat all students like adults and have the same level of expectations for all students.
I will make sure we always cover our business of the day but also make sure we work on one life skill each day during a lesson such as a communication skill, problem solving skill or organization skill. I think it is absolutely to take 2-3 minutes to discuss why we are practicing these skills and how it will help each member of the class in the future and how they can apply these skills in practical every day life. I want to teach science but I also want to teach life skills. My goal for all of my students will be focused on personal growth. I want students to recognize that although I am a teacher, I have had many life experiences outside of this field and the lessons or life skills I incorporate into the classroom are meaningful and are based on my own experiences. I want students to know that they can come to me for guidance, advice, help and direction. At the same time, establishing this type of climate in the classroom, will help motivate students to succeed. Based on my own experiences as a student, I was much more apt to try harder and go the extra mile around teachers/professors who I respect and have a more personal relationship with. I didnt want to let thlem down. I want to create this for my own students.
To change directions and talk about labs in the classroom and my ct.......I did ask what type of materials were available for labs and did he use lab manuals to create his labs or did he get his activities off of the internet, etc......he said that he focused on activites opposed to labs. The labs he did in the classroom were labs in which he could buy materials for on his own dime. From my point of view, a science classroom should consist of several hands on activities including lab experiments and simulations. After personally researcing scientific inquiry, I now understand that it is possible to put an inquiry spin on the same old traditional cook book lab experiment whether it is changing one component of the lab experiment (often referred to as guided inquiry) or by allowing students to control the lab by exploring some sort of phenomena, questioning, designing a mini experiment, collecting data and interpreting the data and finally presenting. I think that these types of labs are great opportunities to point out "what life skills" the students are using and what type of "Science skills" are necessary to complete each task. I will look forward to experimenting with different teaching styles and learning strategies including inquiry tasks as soon as I am able to